Scott County election staff preparing to protect primary votes

SCOTT COUNTY, MO (KFVS) - Missouri's August 7 primary is less than a week away.  Election officials in the Heartland are preparing voting machines and their staff to make sure there's no tampering at the polls.

Scott County Deputy Clerk Beverly Riley says protecting your vote is a major concern for her staff and for voters.

Riley says electronic counting machines are typically the targets of election tampering in our area.

"To get ready for this election we have to prepare all of our machines with security measures," she said. "So we have to run pre-tests on the all the machines to make sure ballots are counted correctly."

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Riley says each machine also has several safety locks which are frequently checked to make sure its contents has not been tampered with.

"It's a major concern for all the voters that nobody knows how they voted or that none of this election material gets out anywhere else," Riley said. "We just have to make sure our security is tight and we do that from the very beginning until the election is over."

Riley says staff at polls are trained to spot any suspicious activity and report it.

"(Our county clerk) will have a meeting with all the election judges either on Friday or Monday," Riley said. "They will go over all of the security and how they should handle different situations if something should come up."

Riley is expecting a larger turnout August 7th compared to other primary elections because of the statewide vote on Proposition A, or the 'right to work law.'

Riley says voters can check their registration by calling their local county clerk office and is reminding them to bring a photo ID to the polls.

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